ExOne Donates 3-D Manufacturing Printer to Minnesota State Mankato

Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology to use equipment in teaching, research.

Mankato, Minn. – The ExOne Company (“ExOne”), a global provider of three-dimensional (“3D”) printing machines and printed products to industrial customers, recently donated an X1-Lab printer (pictured at right) to Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology for use in teaching and research.

According to ExOne’s website, www.exone.com, the X1-Lab is a breakthrough in additive manufacturing equipment. Designed especially for research and educational customers, the X1-Lab is an excellent tool for developing powdered metal and glass materials and processes, as well as training the next generation of manufacturing engineers and powdered metal scientists.

The X1-Lab, which has a $100,000 educational value, is one of the most unique types of additive manufacturing (3D printing) equipment in today’s market, according to Kuldeep Agarwal and Winston Sealy, both of whom are assistant professors in the Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology at Minnesota State Mankato.

The X1-Lab, which Agarwal and Sealy believe is the only one of its kind used at a Minnesota college or university, will be used for research in various fields, including automotive engineering technology, manufacturing engineering technology and much more.

“It helps the students gain an understanding of this technology, which is the future of manufacturing,” said Agarwal. “Students will benefit from the experience they receive in using this machine.”

ExOne installed the equipment at Minnesota State Mankato in the summer of 2013 for student and faculty use during the 2013-14 academic year and donated the equipment to the university in March 2014.

Sealy said ExOne selected Minnesota State Mankato to receive the equipment because of the strong reputation and expertise of the university’s Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology and its balance between teaching and research. Sealy said that ExOne will be able to improve its technology through the students using the equipment.

Headquartered near Pittsburgh, Pa., ExOne has U.S. facilities in Michigan and Texas as well as operations in Germany, Japan and Russia. According to its website at www.exone.com, ExOne was founded in 2005 as a spin-off of Extrude Hone Corporation, a supplier and developer of precision non-traditional machining processes and automated systems worldwide. ExOne has expanded to deliver consistent and fast turnaround service to customers across the globe in the aerospace, automotive, energy/oil/gas/pumps, medical/biomedical and art/design/decorative spaces.

The Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology is part of Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,409 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 31 state institutions.